4 ms·

A politician elected on a populist platform doing things to stand up for his people is an "ulterior motive"? To me, an ulterior motive would be getting elected

A politician elected on a populist platform doing things to stand up for his people is an "ulterior motive"? To me, an ulterior motive would be getting elected on a populist platform, then taking actions to benefit his own commercial interests.

CobrastanJorji 9y ago
Why does your definition of an "ulterior" motive require commercial benefit? Are you suggesting that, if this man had a secret reason for going after Google, and that reason was that it was part of his plan to boost his popularity and name recognition with local conservatives by shitting on "liberal" companies in order to boost his chances of winning a seat in the Senate, it would somehow not count as an "ulterior motive"? Mind you, I'm not saying that this is the case. Maybe he's just going after a big company for a good reason. But your suggestion that an ulterior motive could not even theoretical exist because he's not engaged in commerce seems ridiculous.
- jessaustin 9y ago
  I don't see anything in the currently-linked piece that speaks to an ulterior motive? Surely you're not just suspicious because he's a Missourian? Having served in public office for about ten months, Hawley has very little record as a public official. He was a law professor before running for this office. Trying to read the fact that he's a Republican as some sort of secret clue to his motives is foolish. I, for one, was delighted to be able to vote for an AG candidate who isn't a former prosecutor. Locking up hundreds or thousands of people for victimless fake crimes is toxic to one's soul, and usually we get a "choice" between two such corrupted sociopaths for this office. Time will tell if Hawley will be tempted down that awful path, but the fact that his first "big" initiative has nothing to do with taking revenge on pitiful unfortunates as a proxy for old people's frustration with the general direction of societal change is a good thing.
  - CobrastanJorji 9y ago
    Ah, sorry for the confusion, the suggestion of motive came from the original link, which was apparently changed after my comment from: https://www.axios.com/missouri-ag-starts-antitrust-consumer-protection-probe-into-google-2509102675.html https://www.axios.com/missouri-ag-starts-antitrust-consumer-... I agree that going after big companies is better than just being "tough on crime" and trying to get conviction numbers as high as possible regardless of harm. And I have no idea whether this particular charge is fair or not. I wouldn't normally read into his political leanings as automatically implying motive, but they're relevant here given that Hawley just announced his run for US Senate a few weeks ago and now has followed up on that by going after a company that is generally thought of as being on the Left.
- CodeWriter23 9y ago
  My definition doesn’t require a commercial interest. It’s just amazing to me in an age where politicians are typically benefitting their or their crony’s commercial interests that a guy who is elected on a populist platform is accused of having an ulterior motive for defending the interests of the people as he promised, because that might cause his constituents to elect him to a different office and serve them further.
  - tacomonstrous 9y ago
    Among other things, this seems to carry the implicit premise that prosecuting Google for antitrust violations is a populist issue. I would wager that if you polled it, you would find the exact opposite.
    - CodeWriter23 9y ago
      Perhaps you might want to give this a read if you think Google’s power is of no concern: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/18/technology/frightful-five-start-ups.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/18/technology/frightful-five...
      - tacomonstrous 9y ago
        That's not what I said. The claim is that it's not a populist position, not that it's not the correct one.
  - CobrastanJorji 9y ago
    > An ulterior motive would be...to benefit his own commercial interests. > My definition (of ulterior motive) doesn’t require a commercial interest.
    - CodeWriter23 9y ago
      To the grammatically hindered, my use of the ellipses (...) implies other possibilities than what is written.

CobrastanJorji 9y ago

Why does your definition of an "ulterior" motive require commercial benefit? Are you suggesting that, if this man had a secret reason for going after Google, and that reason was that it was part of his plan to boost his popularity and name recognition with local conservatives by shitting on "liberal" companies in order to boost his chances of winning a seat in the Senate, it would somehow not count as an "ulterior motive"? Mind you, I'm not saying that this is the case. Maybe he's just going after a big company for a good reason. But your suggestion that an ulterior motive could not even theoretical exist because he's not engaged in commerce seems ridiculous.

jessaustin 9y ago
I don't see anything in the currently-linked piece that speaks to an ulterior motive? Surely you're not just suspicious because he's a Missourian? Having served in public office for about ten months, Hawley has very little record as a public official. He was a law professor before running for this office. Trying to read the fact that he's a Republican as some sort of secret clue to his motives is foolish. I, for one, was delighted to be able to vote for an AG candidate who isn't a former prosecutor. Locking up hundreds or thousands of people for victimless fake crimes is toxic to one's soul, and usually we get a "choice" between two such corrupted sociopaths for this office. Time will tell if Hawley will be tempted down that awful path, but the fact that his first "big" initiative has nothing to do with taking revenge on pitiful unfortunates as a proxy for old people's frustration with the general direction of societal change is a good thing.
- CobrastanJorji 9y ago
  Ah, sorry for the confusion, the suggestion of motive came from the original link, which was apparently changed after my comment from: https://www.axios.com/missouri-ag-starts-antitrust-consumer-protection-probe-into-google-2509102675.html https://www.axios.com/missouri-ag-starts-antitrust-consumer-... I agree that going after big companies is better than just being "tough on crime" and trying to get conviction numbers as high as possible regardless of harm. And I have no idea whether this particular charge is fair or not. I wouldn't normally read into his political leanings as automatically implying motive, but they're relevant here given that Hawley just announced his run for US Senate a few weeks ago and now has followed up on that by going after a company that is generally thought of as being on the Left.
CodeWriter23 9y ago
My definition doesn’t require a commercial interest. It’s just amazing to me in an age where politicians are typically benefitting their or their crony’s commercial interests that a guy who is elected on a populist platform is accused of having an ulterior motive for defending the interests of the people as he promised, because that might cause his constituents to elect him to a different office and serve them further.
- tacomonstrous 9y ago
  Among other things, this seems to carry the implicit premise that prosecuting Google for antitrust violations is a populist issue. I would wager that if you polled it, you would find the exact opposite.
  - CodeWriter23 9y ago
    Perhaps you might want to give this a read if you think Google’s power is of no concern: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/18/technology/frightful-five-start-ups.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/18/technology/frightful-five...
    - tacomonstrous 9y ago
      That's not what I said. The claim is that it's not a populist position, not that it's not the correct one.
- CobrastanJorji 9y ago
  > An ulterior motive would be...to benefit his own commercial interests. > My definition (of ulterior motive) doesn’t require a commercial interest.
  - CodeWriter23 9y ago
    To the grammatically hindered, my use of the ellipses (...) implies other possibilities than what is written.